Removable roof for the cockpits of aircraft



Jan. 23, 1951 R. SAULNIER REMOVABLE ROOF' FOR THE COCKPITS 0F' ARCRAFTFiled Nov. 17, 1949.

l I?? ven Zofr Attorneys Jan. 23, 1951 R. SAULNIER REMOVABLE ROOF FORTHE COCKPITS OF AIRCRAFT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 17, 1949 INZENTOR.

fior/16255 Junnullu" Patented Jan. 23, 1951 REMovAeLn noon ron 'renoocnrrrs or i AIRCRAFT,

Raymond Saulnier, Paris, France Application November n, 1949, serial No.127,964

In France November 24, 1948 4 Claims.

In the applicants U. S. A. Patent No. 2,125,752 granted on August 2,1938, for Removable roof for the coclrpits of aircraft, there has beendescribed an improved device for closing the cockpit of an aircraft bymeans of a roof normally slidable under the control ci means operativefrom inside the plane, so as to open or close the pilots cockpit, saidroof being moreover instantaneously detachable and jettisonable by meansof a simple control, also effected from inside the plane in case ofemergency,

This invention has for its object an improvement to the above describeddevice, said improvement having for its purpose to make theroofreleasing control means more simple and more rapid.v

According to the invention, the roof is secured on sliding elements suchas carriages, by means of controlled'locking elements located at therear end of the roof and by means of fixed locking elements located atthe iront end of said roof, the xed locking elements being so arrangedthat the roof is capable of pivoting by a certain angle about an axislocated at its iront end when the rear locking means are released, whileresilient means urge the roof in the direction of said pivoting motion,so that it is only necessary to act upon the above mentioned controlledlocking means to cause an automatic pivoting motion and the automaticrelease of the roof.

i 2 about an axis passing through the two eyes located at the front endof the roof, so as to release the front xed looking elements out oftheir eyes.

The invention will be best understood with reference to the accompanyingdrawings in which an embodiment has been shown as a mereillustration.

in these drawings:

Fig. l is a side view showing a portion of a fuselage comprising aslidable and detachable roof according to the invention.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view showing a detail of the carriagessliding on rails provided on the fuselage, said iigure also showing howthe roof is mounted on said carriages, and

Fig. 3 is a side view, parts being broken away and parts being insection, showing on a larger scale the details of certain parts shown inFig. l.

According to one embodiment, the roof is made integral with twocarriages so mounted as to be slidable each along one rail, said railsbeing arranged on either side of the p-ilots cockpit, by

means of two sliding locking elements provided i on either side of theroof in its rear portion, said locking elements being supported on saidroof and each of them being adapted to engage one eye provided on thecorresponding carriage, said elements being positively controlledagainst the action of resilient means and by means of two other xedlocking elements each of which is adapted to engage one eye provided onthe corresponding carriage at the front portion of the roof, said -xedlocking elements being capable of pivoting by a certain angle withrespect to said eyes.

According to a constructive embodiment of the invention, there is alsoprovided in the rear portion of the roof, e. g. above each carriage eye,at least one pushing-rod resiliently urged towards the carriage andcapable of bearing against the Same so that, when thepositively-controlled locking elements are removed from thecorresponding eyes, said pushing-rod pivots the roof Referring to thedrawings, there is shown at I the fuselage, at 2 the fixed wind-screenand at 3 the slidable and detachable roof. Roof 3 is constituted, in theexample shown, by a transparent plastic material element. Said roof ismounted in a suitable manner on longitudinal members 4, There is shownat 5 a carriage and at 6 a rail supported by fuselage I. It is clearthat two devices of this type are provided, one on each side oi thefuselage. The carriage supports rollers l which are adapted to roll onthe above mentioned rail il. Abutment means 8 are provided to keep thecarriage on the rails. The sliding of the roof along the rails isensured by chains S actuated in any suitable manner, e. g. by means of ahandle I0 provided inside the cockpit.

In the example shown, the chains are anchored on elements 8.

The connection between roof 3-- and carriage 5 is ensured, according tothe invention, on each side of the roof, by two locking elements one ofwhich .(ii) is movable, the other one (I2) being iixed with respect tothe roof. Element II may receive, under the action of a suitable controlsuch as e. g. a handle I3, through cables I4, a leftwards sliding motion(considering the device as shown in Figs. l and 3), resilient means I5urging, on the contrary, said element II from left to right. The lockingelements II are capable of engaging corresponding eyes I6 provided onthe carriages while the xed locking elements i2 are adapted to beengaged into two corresponding eyes Il.

The eyes il are so arranged that the elements I 2 are `capable ofpivoting by a certain angle when the rear locking is released. To thiseffect, for example, the edges of the hole may be rounded, a certainclearance being provided between the rod and said edges, as shown.Alternatively, a knee-joint may be provided.

Besides, part 4 carries two pushing rods I8 urged downwards by resilientmeans I9, said pushing-rods passing through holes 20 provided in part 4,so as to bear against the upper face of eyes I6.

The operation of this device takes place as follows:

When, in case of emergency, it is required to detach the roof by a rapidhandling operation, it is only necessary to pull handle I3, whichresults in causing a displacement towards the left of the slidinglocking elements II. As soon as said elements are released, the actionof pushingrods I8 causes a pivoting motion of the whole roof about anaxis passing through the front eyes I1, so that the locking elements I2are released from said eyes after which the roof is blown away by thewind.

This combination of sliding locking means located at the rear end of theroof with pushing means pivoting said roof about an axis located at thefront portion thereof and with fixed locking means provided on saidfront portion of the roof, ensures a safe and rapid jettison, whileconsiderably simplifying the construction and while decreasing thenumber of parts which is necessary to ensure simultaneously, accordingto the very principle of the invention, the possibility, on the onehand, of sliding the roof and, on the other hand, of detaching andjettisoning the same.

It is to be understood that the invention is in no way limited to theabove-described embodiment and that many modifications may be madethereto within the scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination with a slidable and detachable roof for an aircraftcockpit, a securing device comprising movable roof locking means locatedat the rear end of said roof, means located inside the cockpit torelease said mcvabln locking means, separable interlocking elementsfixed, respectively, to the front end of said roof and to the aircraft,and adapted to permit pivoting of said roof by a certain angle about anaxis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the cockpit and resilientmeans adapted to pivot automatically said roof about said axis when saidmovable locking means are released so as to permit separation of saidinterlocking elements from each other.

2. In combination with a slidable and detachable roof for an aircraftcockpit, two longitudinal rails on either side of the longitudinal axisof said cockpit, two carriages capable of sliding along said rails, tworods slidably mounted at the rear end of said roof on either sidethereof, two eyes at the rear end of said carriage on either sidethereof, elastic means urging said rods into said eyes, means locatedinside the cockpit to release positively said rods from said eyesagainst the action of said resilient means, separable interlockingelements fixed, respectively, to the front end of said roof and to thecarriages, and adapted to permit pivoting of said roof by a certainangle about an axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of thecockpit and resilient means adapted to pivot automatically said roofabout said axis when said movable locking means are released so as topermit separation of said interlocking elements from each other.

3. In combination with a slidable and detachable roof for an aircraftcockpit, a securing device comprising movable roof locking means locatedat the rear end of said roof, means located inside the cockpit torelease said movable locking means, two rods fixedly secured at thefront end cf said roof on either side thereof, two eyes at the front endof said carriage on either side thereof, said eyes being adapted toreceive said rods so that the same, while being locked in said eyes, arecapable of pivoting by a certain angle about an axis passing throughboth said eyes and resilient means to pivot automatically said roofabout said axis when said movable locking means are released so as topermit separation of said rods from said eyes.

4. In combination with a slidable and detachable roof for an aircraftcockpit, two longitudinal rails on either side of the longitudinal axisof said cockpit, two carriages capable of sliding along said rails, tworods slidably mounted at the rear end of said roof on either sidethereof, two eyes at the rear end of said carriage on either sidethereof, resilient means urging said rods into said eyes, means locatedinside the cockpit to release positively said rods from said eyesagainst the action of said resilient means, separable interlockingelements xed, respectively, to the front end of said roof and to thecarriages, and adapted to permit pivoting of said roof by a certainangle about an axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of thecockpit, at least one pushing-rod slidably mcunted at the rear end ofsaid roof perpendicularly to its longitudinal axis and bearing againstsaid carriage and resilient means interposed between said roof and saidpushing-rod to urge the rear end of said roof away from said carriage soas to pivot automatically said roof about said axis and permitseparation of said interlocking elements from each other.

RAYMOND SAULNIER..

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,125,752 Saulnier Aug. 2, 19382,403,250 Verhagen July 2, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date703,828 Germany Mar. 17, 1941

